Nuclear fuel bundle assemblies are highly engineered and costly manufactured products. While they are rugged in use, they must be protected from damage during shipping not only after initial manufacture, but particularly after use.
There is a conventional shipping container or cask assembly used specifically for the shipment of nuclear reactor fuel bundles. This container or cask assembly essentially comprises a cylinder closed at one end in combination with a "basket liner assembly" slidably receivable within the cask. This basket liner assembly is formed by a plurality of horizontally spaced disks held together by tie rods extending between the first and last of such disks. Each disk is also provided with, for example, seventeen square openings arranged in a uniform array and aligned with similar openings in the adjacent disks. Each set of aligned openings receives an elongated hollow tube, also known as a "basket liner". The basket liner has a substantially square cross sectional shape corresponding generally to (but larger than) the cross-sectional shape of the fuel bundle assemblies, and is welded in place at the various disks. New unchanneled fuel bundles, or used channeled fuel bundles are receivable within the various basket liners. After the bundles are installed in the basket liners, the open end of the cask is sealed shut and the cask is ready for shipping.